Duty as a Father
by FallenAngelFromTheSky
Summary: Everything was lost. Everything was gone and yet he was still there to help her put the pieces back together: piece by piece.


**Well, this is my first Heroes story, I hope you all like it I like when Nathan is like family to Claire. . . It's the way it should be.**

**Duty as a Father**

They had been there for her all her life and had never let her down. They had supported her even when she told them she could never get hurt; and when she could, she would heal herself. They were there for her when she was almost killed by the man that had destroyed her life. They were there for her when she told them she was a cheerleader; back when life was normal.

And now they were dead. All of them gone. Her mother, her father, and her brother were all lifeless. There bodies now being lowered into the deep dark hole that extended six feet into the ground.

Rain pelted down on Claire Bennett's face as she stared as the cemetery hands operated the machinery that was taking her family away from her forever. She remembered the last time she had laughed with them before Sylar had intruded into their home and murdered the only people that made her feel loved.

_Noah, Sandra, Claire, and Lyle sat around the mahogany dining room table that had been recently purchased as they moved into another safe house now as the Barker family. They all stared at the dice in the middle of the middle of the Monopoly board that sat in the middle of the table. _

"_Does this mean that I win," Lyle asked, surprise on his face._

"_No! It means that your mother is bankrupt," Noah said, a smile spreading across his usually frozen features._

_Disgruntled, Lyle sat back in his chair and waited for Claire to pick up the dice and roll so he could win more money on his three hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. As Claire picked up the dice, shook them, and threw them on the board; Mr. Muggles, her mother's Pomeranian, jumped up onto the chair, on to the table, and knocked over the pitcher of iced eta that rest on the table. _

_The game got soaked, the table was always sticky, the dog and the family got soaked, and they spent the afternoon laughing and crying. _

Claire withdrew from her memories to feel a warm, big hand on her small shoulder. She now realized that she had tears running down her face. Turning her head slightly, she saw her biological father, Nathan, over her shoulder.

When she saw the only person that had showed up to her family's funeral, she crumpled. She collapsed back into Nathan's arms and started crying harder. "Oh, Claire," He whispered and wrapped his arms around his daughter in a tight hug.

"Why," She whispered, "Why did he have to kill them?" Another sob broke through and she leaned further into the comfort of Nathan's arms.

"I don't know Claire. I really don't know," He whispered, softly kissing the top of her blonde head. They stood like that until stars started appearing in the sky and all of the cemetery hands had left the funeral grounds.

"Claire, sweetheart, we need to get back to New York. But I promise that you can come back here whenever you want, I'll fly you down here, even in the middle of the night," Nathan whispered in her ear.

Nodding softly, Nathan wrapped his arms tighter around her small frame and shot up into the cloudy night sky. The pair arrived in New York nearly an hour later, flying in through the open patio doors. Nathan deposited a now asleep Claire on the soft leather sofa that was positioned across from the fireplace in his office.

As he closed the glass doors of which he and his daughter had flown through, he heard the door to his office open and close softly. Nathan turned quickly around to only see his brother Peter enter his office with a concerned look on his face. Breathing a sigh of relief, Nathan walked over to the armchair opposite of the couch Claire was curled up on and sat down.

"How is she," Peter whispered, walking further into the room and stopping at the back of the couch and looking down at his niece of whom he had saved many times.

"The only good part of her life died, she's a wreck," Nathan whispered, staring at his daughter.

"Mom and I expected you back hours ago. Where were you two," Peter asked as he circled the couch, sitting down on the arm of the sofa, now staring at his confused and grief stricken brother.

"We stayed in the graveyard a little longer to say goodbye to her parents and brother," He whispered, leaning back in the chair and still not taking his eyes off of Claire.

"What's going to happen now," Peter asked, still looking at Nathan, also seeing the love in his eyes that he held for this eighteen-year-old girl.

"I don't know, Pete. How do you deal with a teenager who just lost her whole entire life in less than ten minutes," Nathan asked his brother, more pain filling his eyes.

"I don't k…" Peter began but was cut off when a scream erupted from his niece. She sat up quickly, tears spilling from her eyes and she frantically looked around for something or someone to cling to.

Frantically, Nathan stood up and rushed the short distance over to Claire and pulled her into a tight hug as he sat down next to her on the couch. "Shh…" He whispered, rocking her as she clung tightly to him, sobbing frantically.

"What was your dream about, Claire," He whispered into her ear.

She didn't answer right away, just clung tighter to Nathan. After a few minutes, she started speaking in choppy sentences. "Sylar…he came into…..the house….and did it…again…he killed….us all…including Peter…and Angela….and…..you" And she started crying harder when she said that Sylar had killed her biological father.

"It's my entire fault. Why did he kill them? Why," She sobbed.

Peter watched as Nathan answered his grief stricken daughter. "Because he is a murderer, Claire. And always know that you had a great family who took care of you. Always treasure the memories that you have of them; the good and the bad. Don't ever blame yourself for what happened. It's not your fault and it's not their fault. It's Sylar's entirely, blame him. Just always remember the love they had for you and you had for them. That will always last. Love lasts forever, and their love for you and yours for them is one that lasts longer than a life time," He whispered and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

Her tears slowly, over time, came to a stop. Peter watched as Nathan didn't let his daughter go as he settled back into the couch, her head resting on his chest. Nathan grabbed the blue afghan off the back of the couch and rested it over her small frame. Standing up, Peter left the room quietly, leaving father and daughter to be there for each other when no one else could.

Inside the room, Nathan watched as his daughter slept, thinking as her shoulders rose and fell with every staggered breath, _'This is what I should have been doing for the past eighteen years. This is what the duty of a father really is.'_

**Well, there you go. Click the green button down there and leave me your opinion on my first Heroes story!!!!!! **

**Kay**


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